2015 archive
Vigorish 0
It’s not much, but it’s something.
The Money Shop and other brands run by Dollar Financial UK – Payday UK, Payday Express and Ladder Loans – handed out short-term loans charging interest rates as high as 2,962%.
No, It Isn’t “Challenging Our Assumptions” 0
If it has to be “installed,” it’s not art. It’s a washing machine.
Corollary: If folks who are around art all the time can’t tell that it’s “art,” it’s not art.
The Scariest Costume . . . . 0
In related news, Steve M thinks he has a handle on why the Republican base is so base.
Via Job’s Anger.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is cleaning up.
And yet another gun fires itself just because it can.
Chris-Crossed 0
And this surprises you how?
(snip)
Alexander Mann, a passenger in the Quiet Car, informed Gawker and CNN that Christie, clutching a strawberry smoothie, started by berating a staffer about messing up the seating arrangement.
Then, Mann reported, Christie continued bellowing on his cellphone – a double no-no, violating both the “quiet” in “Quiet Car” and the prohibition against all cellphone calls.
Follow the link, in which a Christie spokesperson suffering from a fit of projection refers to the “quiet car” as “notorious.”
LOL 0
I have been an unabashed mystery buff since I read my first Pocket Books Perry Mason story at age 13. (It cost 35 cents at Thalhimers* Department Store in Richmond, Va. When we accompanied my father on business trips to Richmond and toured Talhimers and Miller and Rhoads while he was in meetings at the Virginia Department of Agriculture, my mother would give me a dollar and a dime and I would agonize over what three Pocket Books to buy.)
I can go on for hours about my favorite mystery writers, my favorite OTR mystery shows, and my favorite TV mystery shows. (I have also been a Sherlockian since I first read the Canon, which I started reading the evening of the day on which I had two wisdom teeth pulled when I was about 15.)
Rarely does a mystery story cause me to laugh out loud, but this one did, and I’m just starting chapter two.
_______________
*I much preferred Thalhimers to Miller and Rhoads.
The Rule of Lawless 0
In the Gainesville Sun, Carl Ramey savages Republicans who believe in the Constitution of the United States except when they don’t:
(snip)
What’s especially revealing is that those who fetishize over strict interpretation of the constitution can so quickly make exceptions, when it serves their purpose. For example, some GOP candidates are now claiming that the 14th Amendment doesn’t guarantee birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants — despite this constitutional mandate: “all persons born …i n the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the State wherein they reside.”
Descent into Fear 0
Dan Casey stifles his qualms and explores some “gun-free zones.” Here’s a bit:
I started at the DMV in northern Roanoke County and found Tanya Howell of Roanoke standing calmly outside.
“I think [the gun ban] is a good idea,” she said. “I feel safer knowing someone’s not going to walk in and shoot up the building. I’m just glad somebody’s doing something about it.” Score one for McAuliffe.
The Climates They Are a-Changing 0
MarketWatch’s Paul B. Farrell unloads on Big Oil. A snippet:
Listen: “Exxon’s Own Research Confirmed Fossil Fuel’s Role in Global Warming Decades Ago,” screams an InsideClimateNews.org headline. Environmental activist Bill McKibben’s op-ed in the Guardian news was brutal, calling Exxon Mobil’s secret decades-long campaign as a turncoat climate-science denier an “unparalleled evil.”
And the Department of Justice attorney who successfully sued Big Tobacco says America should sue Big Oil on racketeering charges, a fraud against investors as well as the public, covering up their own research and hiring goons to undermine other legitimate research, such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Demonstrate politeness at the children’s sporting event.
Police say the shooter was not attending the game where the child was shot, and believe it might be an accident.
Have Cake, Eat It Too, Paul Ryan, Special Snowflake Dept. 0
Emily Mills points out his hypocrisy.
Sticking to his tradition may well mean Ryan ends up forgoing some of the duties traditionally associated with the job, like traveling the country to raise money for his party. Honestly, Ryan’s demands are entirely reasonable and could do much to bring more visibility to the challenge faced by many parents across the country — that of juggling jobs and family.
Thing is, in so demanding deference to his work-life balance, Ryan also is revealing himself to be a hypocrite of the first degree. The congressman has authored several policy and budget proposals that would directly and negatively impact working parents, especially those in lower income brackets.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to your neighbor:
It is not yet clear what they were arguing about.